Writing Beirut : mappings of the city in the modern Arabic novel / Samira Aghacy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Aghacy, Samira, author.

Series:

Edinburgh studies in modern Arabic literature.

Edinburgh studies in modern Arabic literature

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Arabic fiction--1801---History and criticism.

Arabic fiction.

Arabic literature--1801---History and criticism.

Arabic literature.

Beirut (Lebanon)--In literature.

Beirut (Lebanon).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 230 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Exploring the ways in which writers utilize the spaces of the city - joining the factual with the imaginary - this book shows how idiosyncratic perceptions of Beirut are produced, generating an infinite number of Beiruts. The city emerges as interactive, dynamic and historical, a place that is created from the streets, buildings, and monuments as well as through performance and social interaction. By referring to factual places in Beirut, the novels produce a strong reality effect through a mimetic mode of expression. Simultaneously, these texts reveal that Beirut is an unstable locale that resists fixity and transparency, shifting between the real and imagined, and the quotidian and discursive. Writing Beirut explores the city in 16 Arabic novels focusing on the urban/rural divide, the imagined and idealized city, the city through panoramic views and pedestrian acts, the city as sexualized and gendered, and the city as a palimpsest. While the book focuses on Beirut in Arabic novels, the introduction provides a thorough overview of Beirut in the modern Arabic novel.Key Features: * Takes an innovative approach to Beirut focusing on the spatial and geographical in a close literary analysis of 16 modern Arabic novels from various parts of the Arab world *Shows how Beirut is imagined in fiction and how writers use the spaces of the city *Draws on sources from the field of geography and space including Foucault, Lefebvre, de Certeau, Sja and Rose

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Series Editor’s Foreword

Acknowledgments

Note on Transliteration

Introduction

1. The Rural–Urban Divide: Subverted Boundaries

2. The Rhetoric of Walking: Cartographic versus Nomadic Itineraries

3. Sexualizing the City: The Yoking of Flesh and Stone

4. Traffic between the Factual and the Imagined: Beirut Deferred

5. Excavating the City: Exterior and Interior Relics

Inconclusive Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 09 Sep 2016).

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-4744-0346-8

0-7486-9625-3

OCLC:

919002820